Thank you for your interest in participating in the Rancho Cucamonga Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) program! By reading this packet of information, we hope to help you make the best decision on what to do with your stray/feral cat concerns.
To get you started, please refer to the following that are included in this packet:
The Rancho Cucamonga TNR program began in April 2007 and is part of our long term goal of placing all adoptable animals in to forever homes. Because feral cats are not considered adoptable (as they are wild and un-handleable), TNR is the best option for them. Most Animal Control agencies take a Trap-and-Kill stance simply because of the lack of funds for a program such as this or the community is unaware of this as an option. It is far easier for Animal Control agencies to euthanize cats rather than deal with a community issue such as feral cats.
At the Rancho Cucamonga Animal Care and Adoption Center, we feel that although healthy feral cats are not adoptable, they do not need to be humanely euthanized either. Many studies have shown that removing wild cats from an area only increases the number of cats over time. This is called the vacuum effect and is seen in many wildlife populations. As new cats that can reproduce move into an area where resident cats have been trapped and removed, they reproduce at a much higher level to reach carrying capacity again. This means more litters per year and more kittens in each litter. The only successful way to deal with a “cat problem” is to maintain a healthy and stable population that cannot reproduce, such as with a TNR program.
If you consider that approximately 89% of owned cats in the United States are spayed or neutered, the thousands of kittens that we see in Rancho Cucamonga each year are mostly the products of stray or feral cats. So the answer isn’t to convince people to spay or neuter (although this is an ongoing mission of RCACAC), but to address the un-owned cats that are producing most of the kittens. This is simply too big of a number of kittens to adopt our way out of the problem. We need to focus on the source and prevent these litters from being born.
RCACAC has successfully altered over 230 feral cats between April 2007-April 2008! The program is continuing to grow with more and more residents interested in getting cats in their neighborhood spayed/neutered. We have over 100 participants in the program since its inception. The hope is that, as a community, Rancho Cucamonga residents combined with RCACAC can help raise awareness of the importance of spaying/neutering. This will prevent unwanted animals from coming to RCACAC and in turn help us reach our goal of finding a home for every adoptable animal.
We look forward to working with you. If you have any questions, please contact the TNR program coordinator, Amy Carson at 909-466-7387 ext. 2071.
Thank you!
RCACAC Team